Sylvia Ayers
Preventive Healthcare Initiative

The Marie Maxey Foundation, in partnership with Colleagues in Care and the World Hypertension Action Group, is establishing a pilot program on preventative healthcare in Honduras.  This effort is focused on a small town in Santa Barbara department of Honduras -- San Luis, Santa Barbara.  The intent is to work with local health officials to increase awareness of the danger of hypertension and provide testing equipment to identify and monitor the condition.  A key aspect of this program is to prepare officials to screen pregnant women for hypertension and identify those in danger of developing pre-eclampsia.*  A secondary focus is on treating heart attack victims by providing a defibrillator and training in how to use it to a local health clinic.

*Pre-eclampsia is a serious blood pressure condition that can happen after the 20th week of pregnancy or after giving birth (called postpartum preeclampsia). It's when a woman has high blood pressure and signs that some of her organs, like her kidneys and liver, may not be working normally.